Players that don't warrant a signature bass

[discreet]

2 minutes ago, stingrayPete1977 said:

Annoyingly the models we do want they don't make...

So true. You'd think they'd make any colour combination available, but when the one you like does appear, it's £2000!!

[AndyTravis]

I think Nate Mendel deserved his - he’s a phenomenal rock band bass player...

i was always shocked there wasn’t a John Deacon model. But, he probably said no.

[oldbass]

5 hours ago, Japhet said:

Shouldn't the Adam Clayton signature basses all have one string though? (Behave!).

Ha...dont get me started. I can understand the fact that he's a really nice bloke and that his life took an unbeleivably lucky turn when he was a teen but how exactly does he inspire a young person to become a "musician", his playing is erm.....pretty basic.

[Bolo]

2 minutes ago, oldbass said:

pretty basic

Basic is a skill in its own right.

[Cato]

4 minutes ago, oldbass said:

Ha...dont get me started. I can understand the fact that he's a really nice bloke and that his life took an unbeleivably lucky turn when he was a teen but how exactly does he inspire a young person to become a "musician", his playing is erm.....pretty basic.

Dee Dee Ramone inspired me.

When I started out 'acheivable' was more inspirational to me than 'virtuoso'.

[AndyTravis]

I revisited some U2 the other day on the way to work. Clayton can play. So...that’s that, he’s a good bassist for U2, who are mega rich.

and purple sparkles are cool.

(reverso Warwick was a mishap ?)

[Mister RLP]

Can I have a Herbie Flowers or a Guy Pratt signature bass, please?

[Painy]

The one I really don't get is the John Entwistle Spider signature from Dean.

He didn't even play a Dean for goodness sake! It's a copy of a bass he used that was actually made by a different company entirely (but with the dirty great fugly Dean headstock grafted crudely onto the end of it). Not only that but it was released posthumously when the man himself had no say in it. He even already had his signature Buzzard bass while he was alive thank you very much!

More a case of a signature bass that isn't deserving of the artist rather than an artist that doesn't deserve a signature bass though.

 

Edited November 28, 2017 by Painy

[discreet]

And can anyone explain the Brian May Bass, a bass which resembles May's guitar? WTF is that about? He's not a bass player, FFS. I don't understand!

Edited November 29, 2017 by discreet

[Painy]

1 minute ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

The limited run of Spyder basses that Alembic produced were available with a cone headstock or a 'V' headstock which was not dissimilar to the the Dean headstock design.

Fair enough (although I've only ever seen footage of JE using one with the "cone" headstock and I'd say that the idea of a signature bass is specifically to represent the particular variant of an instrument associated with the artist).

[Painy]

1 minute ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Alright, you win! I'd not seen that picture before.

I stand by the rest of my statement though

[krispn]

I’ve said it before but as far as Clayton having Fender sig basses let’s not forget Bono and The Edge are on the Fender board. I’d defend Clayton as his bass lines work for the music and to overplay on those if you’re noodling at home sounds wrong. When he played the Lakland DJ it was nicknamed the ACDJ and it was a handsome bass 

[Lozz196]

For me an artist should only really have a Sig Instrument if they are synonymous with that instrument. Duff McKagan for example, he`s just about the only famous person playing a Fender Jazz Bass Special, easily identifiable to him. Similarly Steve Jones from The Sex Pistols, his Gibson Les Paul was pretty unique with the two femme fatale stickers, he`s played it - or versions of it - throughout his career. So makes sense for these two imo.

Whereas artists who have a different make/model of instrument every tour, well it`s like replica football shirts and having to have a new design every season to get the most from the fans as possible. A sig instrument should be - again imo - something that is identifiable over the length of an artists career, that you know they`re going to be playing the next time you see them live.

[MrDaveTheBass]

15 hours ago, discreet said:

I wore Calvin Klein's underpants for ages before I realised I was never going to have shapely buttocks just like him. It's really all about market perception, both within the individual consumer and the pant-buying public.

I've never seen the point in buying signature underpants. I've always bought stock underpants, modified them to fit my needs and then really put the hours in wearing them in - in the bedroom, the rehearsal room and on stage - until the unique stains and wear marks mean that they're MY pants, NOT Adam Clayton's.

[ivansc]

12 hours ago, discreet said:

I want a Jamerson sig... which is basically any early 60s sunburst/tort/rosewood P...

Heh - If I ever decide to sell mine....1963 USA reissue dressed exactly as you describe. Iwas playing one of the originals at the same time as Jamerson got his. Unfortunately mine wound up getting stolen, like Jamerson`s, from the guy I sold it to in 1963 or 4....

[dudewheresmybass]

Doesn't gene record the parts with a 50's p bass?

Just saying ?

[bigjimmyc]

IMO Gene Simmons is one of the few bass players who truly should have a signature instrument. Ditto Billy S for the reasons already stated.

 

Gene is the epitome of a rock star - 110% showman and OTT antics. His persona is outlandish and so are his stage instruments. As a kid getting into rock that's everything you want from your heroes. It sorta goes without saying that the rock star persona also means cut-throat commercials and not very nice in real life.

 

By contrast, if your stage persona is ordinary bloke with a fender p/j but you changed the tone control to make it your own then I don't think it's worth a signature model Adam, Duff, Geddy, Flea, Roger, or even Steve H.

 

That doesn't make those instruments less worthwhile to me, I just keep in mind that it's a purely commercial thing.

[chris_b]

All my basses have been signature basses. Mine.

[la bam]

For me a sig bass should be a bass you can see a photo of and go ... "thats such a players'".

Whether it be style, shape or colour.

And i really cant see how you can have sig models from a different manufacturer. Thats crazy.

[discreet]

I'm quite sure it IS a commercial exercise and nothing more. But looking at why anyone would want to actually buy a signature bass... is it hero-worship, and the purchaser wants to support their hero, like a football fan wearing their team's shirt? Or is it because they imagine that the sig bass will somehow, by magic or osmosis, impart the skill, sound and success of said hero to the buyer?

Even though the buyer has banana fingers, two left hands, no musical aptitude and would be better off buying a kazoo?

Edited November 29, 2017 by discreet

[cheddatom]

Bill Kelliher from Mastodon switched from Gibson to ESP for entirely the right reasons. There are a few articles about it but basically they were shipping his signature guitars with the wrong gauge strings for the tuning he plays in, so his fans were buying his signature guitar, and finding it unplayable when they tuned it to the tuning he plays in. 

[Barking Spiders]

17 hours ago, stingrayPete1977 said:

Even as a bass player I haven't heard of most of the bass players with a signature bass available. 

Try asking Joe public if they know who Gene Simmons is then try Victor Wootton or Duck Dunn, I know who'd be most 'famous'. 

The again, Joe Public isnt the one buying the bass and a bass newbie will usually buy/be given an entry level budget instrument and not a value added signature model. Most of us amateur/hobby bass players will be familiar with great session and niche genre players unknown to the rest of the world. Surely signature models are targeted at more experienced players who know their instruments and are not gonna be swayed by marketing gimmickry

Also viz AC, I guess if he was coming out with Billy Sheehan lines it would jar seeing as the Edge is no Steve Vai and the drummist is hardly in Mike Portnoy's league

Edited November 29, 2017 by Barking Spiders
added stuff

[stingrayPete1977]

If you look at the Fender stuff it's not really a big deal anyway is it? Neck and body with a lick of paint, relicing done with a stencil.

Plenty of people paid nearly USA money for a Mex Jazz because it was painted pink and had $12 worth of stacked pots on it,  the mind boggles. 

[SH73]

Glad no one mentioned the one and only Steve Harris who has multiple signature models. 

[stingrayPete1977]

10 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said:

The again, Joe Public isnt the one buying the bass and a bass newbie will usually buy/be given an entry level budget instrument and not a value added signature model. Most of us amateur/hobby bass players will be familiar with great session and niche genre players unknown to the rest of the world. Surely signature models are targeted at more experienced players who know their instruments and are not gonna be swayed by marketing gimmickry

I'd say they are targeted at the 50+ year old guy with spare cash regardless of their ability.